| Taken from today's www.yahoo.com/headlines/entertainment/ page....
FEATURE: Badfinger Great Pete Ham Shines On Posthumous Album
By Matthew Lewis
HARTFORD, Conn. (Reuter) - One of rock music's most exciting archival finds
is also one of the saddest.
A new album of previously unreleased songs by the late Pete Ham, leader of
1970s British group Badfinger, is winning rave reviews even as it reminds
listeners of how much was lost when Ham committed suicide in 1975, at the
age of 27.
For Dan Matovina, who produced the Rykodisc album "7 Park Avenue,"
unearthing and restoring Ham's home recordings was both an honor and a
technical challenge.
"The tapes were in greatly decayed condition," the San Mateo, Calif.-based
Matovina told Reuters in an interview.
Matovina and many critics believe that the Welsh-born Ham, whose group was
discovered by the Beatles and originally signed to their Apple Records
label, ranks in the top echelon of rock songwriters, along with John
Lennon, Paul McCartney, the Who's Pete Townshend and Ray Davies of the
Kinks.
During its brief existence as a recording unit from 1969 to 1974, Badfinger
scored worldwide hits with the Ham-penned "No Matter What," "Day After Day"
and "Baby Blue."
Matovina, 39, discovered the Ham tapes -- whose existence had only been
vaguely rumored -- in 1992 after interviewing Ham's brother, John, in
Swansea, South Wales, while researching a biography on the ill-fated
Badfinger.
Matovina's biography, "Without You: The Tragic Story of Badfinger," will be
published later this year.
"(John Ham) told me he had some of Pete's demo tapes, and that I was free
to listen to them," said Matovina, who is an authorized designate of Ham's
estate.
Ham's other surviving relatives include a daughter, Petera Ham, who was
born to his girlfriend, Anne Herriott, a month after he died. Petera now
lives in Glasgow, Scotland.
The album that eventually resulted from Matovina's restoration work --
which included sonically cleansing the original mono master tapes --
features 18 never-heard songs that measure up to Badfinger's best work.
Particularly striking is the sharp contrast between Ham's brightly melodic
muse and Badfinger's appallingly dark history.
Depressed over business problems, Ham hanged himself at his home in
Weybridge, England, on April 24, 1975.
History tragically repeated itself in November 1983, when bandmate Tom
Evans -- who co-wrote with Ham "Without You," a No. 1 single for Harry
Nilsson in 1972 -- committed suicide in the same manner.
"Badfinger's story is the most tragic story in rock 'n' roll," said Ken
Sharp, Philadelphia-based author of the recently published book "Power Pop!
Conversations with the Power Pop Elite."
"Half the band killed themselves because of outside problems, managerial
problems, business problems," Sharp told Reuters. "But I think Pete is
really the shining light in the world of power pop as a writer, and he
would have accomplished so much more, had he lived."
Sharp defines "power pop" as concise, melodic, energetic, guitar-driven
rock.
During his brief life, the prolific Ham amassed a large backlog of tunes
which Badfinger, because of its democratic songwriting structure, never got
around to recording.
"7 Park Avenue," named after Badfinger's London studio and residence, is
packed with hit singles that never were, including the wistful "Coppertone
Blues," the elegant "Sille Veb" (the name of Ham's then-girlfriend spelled
backwards) and the driving "I Know That You Should."
The album's final two songs, "No More" and "Ringside," are among the last
Ham ever wrote, and can be read as virtual suicide notes.
"I can't face the mirror anymore," Ham sings in "No More." What's
disturbing about this song is its upbeat, catchy melody -- almost as if the
author could not restrain his power pop impulses even when he had one foot
in the grave.
Matovina sighs when asked why an artist as gifted as Ham would want to take
his own life.
"He became depressed over issues of dealing with the music business," he
said. "He basically was a sensitive type who could not handle the harshness
of the music business and what it entailed to stay within it."
Ham's suicide note included a bitter reference to Badfinger's American
manager, Matovina said.
"At the time of his death, he had no outlet for his music. His career was
locked up in lawsuits that he had nothing to do with."
"It was just a lot of factors that came down, that one particular night
that he killed himself. ... It's very likely that if he had been helped at
the right time, he would still be alive today."
Ham would have turned 50 on April 27 of this year.
Matovina said that because of the business problems that plagued Badfinger,
"We lost a chance to have another Beatles. ... They could never have had
the impact of the Beatles, but musically they could have satisfied us with
many records up to the quality level of the Beatles."
Some critics have argued that Badfinger's 1971 album, "Straight Up," is as
good as certain Beatles albums.
Badfinger's surviving guitarist, Joey Molland, lives in Shorewood, Minn.,
and occasionally performs as part of a three-piece Badfinger. Original
drummer Mike Gibbons now lives in Florida and is working on a solo album.
Matovina said there are dozens more unreleased Ham songs in the vaults, and
that another album might come out next year.
"There's quite a few (unreleased songs)," he said. "But I wouldn't want to
empty the barrel and (release) stuff that he just flat-out wouldn't have
wanted."
To many fans such as "Power Pop!" author Ken Sharp, Ham's music sounds as
fresh and exhilarating today as it did in 1970.
"The best thing about this (new album) is to hear Pete singing songs you've
never heard, and to hear that wonderful voice again," Sharp said.
"There's no one today doing anything that can even hold a candle to what he
did."
Reuters/Variety
|